After two students were hit near Lake Minneola High School, Lake County, the city of Lake Minneola, and the state are announcing critical safety upgrades in the area.
In October, a high schooler was killed after he was hit near the bus loop at Lake Minneola High. Then that same month, another student was hit near the school and survived.
In response, officials are rolling out a number of upgrades around the school to improve the safety of students and staff starting with pop-up pedestrian safety education events.
Lake County Sheriff’s Office has amped up safety patrols around the school and additional lighting has been added on campus.
Still to come, a new stop sign will be added outside the bus loop and the school will boast more pedestrian crosswalk signs and warnings that drivers are entering a school zone.
In a statement, Lake County Schools Superintendent Diane Kornegay says, “Making sure our students have a safe passageway to and from school each day is our collective responsibility.”
Here's the full list of upgrades from the county:
- "Increasing safety patrols by the Lake County Sheriff’s Office around the bus loop area until additional lighting is installed
- Scheduling the lights at the Minneola Athletic Complex to be on each morning from 5:30 a.m. to 7:30 a.m. (completed Nov. 1)
- Painting the curbing, trail striping, and yield/stop bars at Hancock Trail and Lake Minneola High School bus loop intersection (completed Nov. 6)
- Installing a new trail stop sign to alert walkers traveling toward the bus loop (to be completed by Nov. 13)
- Extending trail lighting from south of Big Sky Dr. and north to Gatewood Ave.
- Installing in-house safety signs and striping (to be completed by Nov. 16), including:
- Adding ‘Next 1/2 Mile’ plaque below school zone flashers
- Re-striping bus loop crosswalk
- Adding advanced pedestrian signs at midblock crosswalks
- Upgrading all pedestrian signs to yellow/green signs"
